Deja Vu & Deja Vu II: The Casebooks of Ace Harding

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More screenshots of Kemco's classic adventure remake for the Game Boy Color.

By IGN Staff

"The deary night hung over the city like a wet wool blanket. I trudged through the empty streets, my brain ticking like the engine block on an ancient Model T chugging through the desertl--overheated and on the verge of cracking. I was a blind man lost in a mental catacomb of dead ends. I needed a break, but the only breaks I seemed to find involved plaster casts and doctors. Walking through the building lobby, I glanced at the rickety elevator. Considering my latest turn of luck, I opted for the stairs. The light was on in my office, which was strange since I had not paid my power bill in over a month. Fumbling for my keys, I stared at the chipped paint on the words "Ace Harding, Private Detective," wondering how long I could afford to keep the business. If I had blinked, I would have missed the shadow flickering across the frosted glass inside my office. I unsnapped my leather holster and leaned back against the wall. Perhaps this time--just for once--lady luck would give me a nod and a smile."

Wooah... Do you ever have that unmistakable feeling that you've experienced a certain moment in time before? See, we got that feeling just a second ago, when we typed in the title for Kemco's latest adventure game(s) for Game Boy Color: Deja Vu I & II: The Casebooks of Ace Harding. For some odd reason, it feels as if we've encountered the same games more than 10 years ago...

Features

Solve murders and mysteries as you assume the role of Ace Harding, Private Detective,

Two graphic adventure games in one Pak.

Over 140 rendered locations to explore.

Unravel and sort out the complicated relationships between 20 eclectic and intriguing characters.

Over 80 items to find and use.

Battery-backed.

The Game There is of course a reason for that feeling of deja vu we're all experiencing. Hot on the success of its Shadowgate rerelease, Kemco has decided to bring back the 1985 adventure classic Deja vu and its sequel Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas -- on one cartridge. Both games place players in the role of private eye Ace Harding, a seedy Chicago detective. In the first game on the cart, Ace wakes up one day with total amnesia on the floor in a filthy bathroom. He doesn't know who he is or how he got here. As he searches through the Chiago casino that opens up behind the bathroom door, he finds a somewhat familiar but very dead body, shot with bullets from Ace's gun...

The second game, Lost in Las Vegas, picks up where the first one ends. This time around, Ace has been abducted by two thugs, grilled by the notorious Las Vegas mobster, Tony Malone, knocked senseless, and tossed into a bathtub in a cheap Vegas hotel. Ace eventually finds out that he owes the mobsters more than $100,000 bucks -- and he has exactly one week to come up with the money.

The interface of these "interactive adventures" should be instantly familiar to Shadowgate players. Players select from a number of actions and point and click on hot spots of the more than 140 locations at the top. During the game, players get their hands on more than 80 different items. Some can be used to open up doors, unlock new clues or trigger certain events -- others don't do anything. It's up to you to distinguish between the important clues and the meaningless refuse.

If everything goes well, Deja Vu I & II should be ready for release later this summer. Retro-gaming fans and friends of classic detective games should already mark their calendars.